Predictions for your team event – Typical with colleagues

A company outing, the Christmas party or two days of offsite at a conference hotel: that's where you see your colleagues differently than in a meeting. Someone finds the coffee machine first, someone else already has the morning's photos on their phone, and by dinner at the latest someone is telling everyone what the event was like three years ago. Typical turns observations like these into a game that doesn't put anyone on the spot: before the event, you write predictions about each other, and over the course of the day you tick off what happens. The first to fill a line wins. The rules in detail are in the how-to-play guide.

How to set up the round

• Card size by length. For an evening party, 3 × 3 is enough. A full day out can carry 4 × 4, and an offsite over two or three days can go up to 5 × 5.
• Teams across departments. With four or more people, you can play “As a team”. Mix the teams on purpose so that people who rarely work together end up on the same side. That often does more than any planned team exercise.
• End date at the end of the event. Set it to the evening of the last day. The round then ends by itself, even if nobody has filled a line, and whoever came closest to bingo wins.
• A prize with no cash value. The winner picks the restaurant for the next team lunch, gets the window seat on the coach or opens the next team meeting with a question of their choice.
• Blitz or free. With “Blitz” and the category “Typical us”, Typical fills the cards for you – handy if you only start on the coach. If you've known each other for a while, “Write freely” is more fun, because then your own observations end up on the cards.

14 predictions for team events and office parties

These sentences describe behaviour you can see or hear, and none of them puts anyone on the spot. On the card, each sentence is preceded by the name of a person from your round:

• asks on the coach when the first break is
• takes a photo of the buffet before anyone has eaten
• offers to take the group photo
• asks for the Wi-Fi password
• kicks off the round of introductions
• photographs the flip chart after the workshop
• says “Let's take that away”
• uses project jargon at dinner
• fetches coffee for several people at once
• introduces themselves to someone from another department
• talks about what the event was like in a previous year
• goes back for a second dessert
• is first on the dance floor
• helps tidy up at the end without being asked

From Blitz mode

If you choose “Blitz” with the category “Typical us”, these sentences are among those that end up on the cards. They suit any group and are almost certain to happen at a team event:

• pulls out their phone mid-conversation
• googles who's right in the middle of an argument
• asks for a charger
• suggests what to do next
• declines a phone call
• asks what the plan actually is

Tips for playing with colleagues

• Someone from the team leads, not the manager. Whoever creates the round is the host and sets it up. If someone from the team takes this on, the game doesn't feel like an item on the agenda from above, and everyone plays along more freely.
• Write beforehand, not during the programme. Plan ten minutes the day before or on the way there. Typing during a talk comes across as rude to whoever is presenting.
• Tick things off during breaks. If you notice something, remember it and tick it off at the next break. A tick counts straight away; if you got it wrong, simply take it back.
• Include the quieter ones. Because everyone writes about the others, everyone has the same say in what's on the cards – including people who rarely speak up in meetings. When the round is revealed, read out the predictions that hit the mark best; they often come from the people who usually say little.
• Bring new team members along. Someone who joined a few weeks ago barely knows the others. In that case Blitz mode is the better choice, so nobody is left staring at an empty field.
• Keep it voluntary. Nobody has to play who doesn't want to. Typical works with just two people, and in the browser a name is all you need – nobody needs an account or an app on their work phone.

What doesn't belong on the card

At the end of the round, everything is revealed: each person sees what was written about them, including what never happened. So only write what you would also say to the person's face. At a company event, that means:

• Nothing about performance or pay. Instead of “delivers late”, try “is already sitting on the coach before everyone else arrives”.
• Nothing private. Relationships, health, looks and family stay out, even if everyone knows.
• No alcohol. Sentences about drinking put pressure on everyone who doesn't drink and have no place on a card the whole team reads.
• No in-jokes. A sentence only two people understand can't be ticked off by the others.

If you want to keep playing after the event, you'll find ideas for everyday office life and lunch breaks in the everyday predictions.